[CONTEST UPDATE, 10/11/07, 2:15 AM: All spots are filled, see here.]

[CONTEST UPDATE, 10/8/07, 1:11 PM: As you can see in the comments, the first nine spots have been taken, but (between 1-8) people have already signed up for the second nine, and I need more, so if you haven't entered yet, do it now (until you hear me say stop). See below for details.]

If Cleveland wins Monday night, I will have nailed the predictions for both ALDS series. Don't think that means I was rooting against the Indians tonight, though. But the longer this series goes, the less-rested the winner will be. In fact, the series going five games would be very beneficial to us, but, of course, in game four, it's "go whoever's playing the Yanks," as usual.

Another prediction made at my house came true tonight: both my girlfriend and I said Clemens would "go three," and that, therefore, even if Dunbar won, it wouldn't be because of him. We actually overestimated him. The Nixon dong was sweet.

Shortly after that, though, we went to a Henry Rollins spoken-word performance. Picked a good night for it--we got to the whole Sox game, and only the good part of the Yanks game. Rollins was really funny. I've been listening to his talkie-talkie albums for--wow, I guess I can say "almost two decades" now. He is an entertaining dude. He was able to captivate a huge crowd for over three hours. Check hims records out at your local Crazie Eddie's or whatever.

CONTEST! Okay, here's the deal. Back in the day, my dad and his fellow teachers would have pools--weekly football, March Madness, Super Bowl squares, etc.--which I was always allowed to play in. In October, we'd do the playoff series composite linescore pool. Basically, everybody gets a half-inning. At the end of the series, whoever's inning has the most total runs wins the pot. (I specifically remember the 1986 ALCS, and my dad being allowed to get Red Sox half-innings for us, and everyone understood.) For the 2007 ALCS, you can enter for free, and instead of using Sox and Indians/Yanks innings, we'll just use the Sox, so nobody has to root for the other team. The person who gets the ninth inning also gets any extra-inning runs (but also can get screwed if there's no ninth inning in some games, so it kind of evens out). Here's how you get your inning: Comment on this post saying you want to be in the contest. Comments are hidden until I approve them, so the first person to comment will get the first inning, and so on. But you won't see who has what inning until all nine are filled. If enough people enter, I'll up the number of players to 18 maximum, with person 10 through 18 also getting innings one through nine, and there would be two prizes. So, remember, don't try to pick an inning, you will be assigned one. You can try to estimate it, like, since it's 1:20 AM now, and you read this at 1:25 and REALLY want the first inning, comment right away, but if you really want a later inning, wait awhile. Get it?

The prize: Don't know yet. It will be along the lines of "autographed '80s Red Sox player baseball card," but maybe something different. So just enter, but know that you'll be giving me your address if you win, so if you don't want to do that, don't enter.